Verify the identity of your foreign clients online
In the framework of the anti-money laundering obligations, Belgian diamond dealers are required to ask their clients for ID documents and verify these documents. In practice, however, this is not always easy to do. For this reason, AWDC is happy to offer you an overview of a number of foreign websites you can use to verify your foreign clients’ identity.
Please do note that these websites can only be used to verify the documents obtained. Diamond traders still bear the full responsibility to identify clients correctly and to request the identification documents directly from them. In addition, some of the following websites are incomplete and may not offer accurate information. Finally, some of them are not available in English.
Israel
This website allows you to directly contact the Israeli Diamond Industry. You can do so by sending an email to support@israelidimond.co.il or by calling +972 54 3452913. This way you can find out whether the diamond trader in question has the necessary licenses and whether he is a member of a diamond exchange. Furthermore, you can also make use of two other websites that are available in Hebrew only: Registrar of Companies and ‘The Israeli Corporations Authority’ website.
United States
This link directs you to a list of useful websites for each state in the USA. They can be used to look up certain information on American companies. The extent of the information published differs from state to state.
India
For India, the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the website of the Ministry of Commerce en Industry are especially useful sources of information. In the 'View your IEC’ section of the latter all the data appear in a list. You must, however, know the name and Import Export number of the company you want to send an invoice to.
United Arab Emirates
For information on United Arab Emirates companies, please visit the website of the ‘Department of Economic Development’.
Should you have any further questions with regard to the Anti-Money Laundering laws, please do not hesitate to contact the AWDC AML & Compliance Helpdesk via Trissia Stavropoulos, Head of Legal/Compliance & HR at 03 222 05 03 or trst@awdc.be.
